Double Take Creates Eight Venues for Eight Plays in One Night

In the third annualDouble Take Fringe Festivalin Greenfield, once again eclectic and surprising are the orders of the night. This festival creates venues out of an empty bank building, an unused second floor atop Hope and Olive, and in taverns like The Wheelhouse and The Red Door on Ames Street. Once again, the tireless Linda McInerney of Old Deerfield Productions has created a stellar line up. She’s amazing!

Part of the genius is the creation of these spaces for temporary art in the form of short plays. A teenager, Ezekial Baskin, of Northampton is director of “For Whom the Southern Belle Tolls, a parody of The Glass Menagerie. This little 2nd floor theater above the popular restaurant is the best venue of the festival. It’s rarely used but a perfect place for a short theater piece. The audience is intimately engaged with the actors on the tiny stage.

The schedule is varied as usual–other shows include famed Valley guitar God John Sheldon doing a take on the juxtaposition between his beloved Fender Stratocaster guitar that was made in 1954, the same year as the hydrogen bomb. This will happen at the Red Door Bar on Ames St.

The First National Bank now has seats and stage lights, it’s been readied for the Monkamok Theater company’s “Moon Up by Morning,” where three every day characters discover their part in the collective dreaming, and venture to awaken the source of all dreams. I’m not totally sure what that means but it will be interesting and this high-ceiling venue is the star.

It all happens in Downtown Greenfield this Friday and Saturday October 18-19. Find out more at Double-take.org. Where else can you find 8 shows in 8 unique venues all in one night??